Sermon Video: "I the LORD do not change" - Malachi 3:1-6

The physical realm that we inhabit is in a state of constant change, everything we know changes, with only one exception.  There is only one thing that doesn't change: God.  The prophet Malachi, in response to the complaint of the people that God's justice was absent, responds by speaking of the messenger to come who would prepare the way for God himself to come among his people.  This dramatic change, for us, does not harbinger a change within God, for Jesus the Son of God was still one with the Father, even while taken upon himself humanity.

What does it mean that God does not change?  It allows for humanity a sure foundation for morality and ethics, for they can be built upon the changeless character of God, and it provides hope and security for we know that the promises of God will never falter, for God does not change.  In the end, it is the changeless nature of God which allows his people to exist, for despite their ample shortcomings in conforming to his holiness, they are not destroyed, for God has promised to redeem them and make them into a holy people, and God does not change.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

 

Do all religions worship the same God?

Do the religions of the world worship the same God?  This fundamental question begs an answer to this question: What is Truth?

Christianity is built upon several presuppositions about knowledge and Truth which must be understood which will then answer the first question.

Truth exists and is knowable by mankind.  Not simply truth from my perspective, but Truth that exists apart from my belief or disbelief in it.  If Truth doesn’t exist, or if it is unknowable, humanity’s quest for it has been doomed from the start and the meaning of life cannot be determined.

Truth claims that are mutually exclusive cannot both be true.  In other words, either God exists or God doesn’t exist, both can’t be true; either humanity is fallen/corrupt or humanity is inherently good, both can’t be true, etc.

The religions of the world make mutually exclusive Truth claims, not complimentary ones.  If reincarnation is real, then the Eastern religions are correct and the Western ones are wrong.  If there is only one God, then the monotheists are right and the polytheists are incorrect, etc.

The Truth claims of Christianity are exclusive.  Christianity requires the belief in the divine/human nature of Jesus Christ, in his virgin birth, sinless life, vicarious death and resurrection.  If this is True, it negates the Truth claims of all the other world religions, for none of them afford Jesus Christ his exclusive role as Savior and Lord.

          The basis of Christian Truth claims is the revealed Word of God.  Christians don’t claim to have discovered the Truth, they are only recipients of Truth that has been given by God.  The Word of God forms the basis for all Christian theology and morality.

Do the religions of the world worship the same God?  No, no they don’t, for their claims regarding who that God is, what that God has done, and what that God requires of humanity are mutually exclusive.  It is on this basis that Christians have, since the founding of the Church, sought to share the Gospel with those who do not believe, it is not an act of arrogance, nor does it derive from a sense of superiority; Christian evangelism is driven by compassion, for just as God desires that none should perish by failing to believe in his Son, so too do his people want their fellow man to find God’s grace and mercy through Jesus Christ.

Sermon Video: Who will enter the Kingdom of God? - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Writing to a church struggling with maintaining Christian morality, Paul reminds the people of the church at Corinth that, "the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God".  Morality, that is obedience to the Law of God, is not optional for the people of God.  Morality is also not negotiable, for God has defined it according to his own attributes.  To imitate God is righteousness, to rebel against God is wickedness.  To illustrate this, Paul lists 10 examples of immorality that are not acceptable among the people of God.  As with any of Paul's lists of virtues or vices, the list is not exhaustive, but all those things listed do indeed belong on the list.
Paul begins the list of vices by saying, "Do not be deceived", which indeed seems a fitting warning as several of the things on the list are no longer considered to be immoral by segments of the Christian community in America.  How is it that we think we can overrule the Word of God?  All ten things listed by Paul are immoral, whether we like it or not, for God has declared them to be so through his inspired Word, and we have no right to challenge it.
Humanity is indeed wicked, fallen and lost, thankfully God has provided the solution, by washing, sanctifying, and justifying those who have faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  The wicked will not inherit the kingdom, thanks be to the grace of God, which by faith has declared his people to be no longer wicked, but instead righteous, in the name of Jesus.

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Apes, children, and the value of life.

There was a recent incident at the zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio, involving a three-year-old child falling into the gorilla enclosure and the subsequent killing of a male gorilla named Harambe by zoo officials who was either threatening or protecting the child, depending upon who you ask.  Setting aside the question of whether or not Harambe would have harmed the child if the zoo had instead tried to use a tranquilizer on him, for that ought to be a question answered by gorilla experts, we all ought to be able to agree that Harambe could have easily killed the child he was holding on to, whether intentionally or not.  Thus the question should not be about the intentions of the gorilla, but instead about the value of the two lives involved.  One of the two was a endangered gorilla, the other a human child.  How can these two lives be weighed, how can one decide their relative value?
For those who do not believe in God, and thus have no concept of humanity as having an immortal soul, nor of humanity created in the image of God, the question is a much more difficult one to answer.  If you don't believe in God, humanity is simply on step above primates, higher, but only relatively so.  If we are only the product of evolution, and our place at the top of this planet's food chain is only the outcome of chance, and not the design of a Creator, there will be little separating humanity from other life in terms of value.  For those who don't believe in God, the idea that a human life could have less value than an animal's life becomes a possibility.
To those who do believe in God as Creator, who see humanity as a reflection of the divine image, every human life must have an inherent value qualitatively different than any animal life.  Without God, human life is greater in a difference of degree, not a difference of kind.  But for those who see the hand of God in the face of every child, the gap between human life and animal life is, and must be, vast.
I would choose to save a human life, at the cost of any animal's life, even a great number of animal lives.  I would choose a 90-year-old with Alzheimers disease over an endangered baby animal.  I would choose a severely handicapped human life, mentally or physically, over any animal's life.  Why, because that human being has a soul, that life is a gift from God, and it is our duty to protect it in any way that we can.  In case this implication isn't clear too, I would also certainly choose the life of an unborn child over an animal's life as well.
Do I love animals?  I certainly do, some of my best memories and interactions have been with my dogs, and we've taken our one-year-old daughter to the zoo twice already.  My wife is obsessed with hiking in the woods out West to look for moose.  We've done this many times, and will undoubtedly do so again soon when our daughter is old enough to trek along.  I think moose are awesome, and would oppose cruelty or senseless killing of them or any other animals.  But don't think for a second that I would hesitate to protect my wife or child, or any other human life, if it was threatened by an animal.
This recent controversy over the killing of an ape to save a child has been greatly inflated by a significant number of people who have erroneously concluded that the life of the child and the life of the ape have a similar value.  Such belief is wrong, dangerous, and not connected to the teaching of the Word of God.  Perhaps the zoo could have used a tranquilizer, but to do so they would have put the life of a child at a greater risk in order to save the life of an animal, and that decision would have been not only unacceptable, but immoral.  They chose human life because they valued it as they should have.

Sermon Video: The Nature of Temptation - James 1:13-18

From the very beginning, man has sought to assign blame to somebody else.  This isn't a tactic that we need to be taught, children figure it out on their own.  The problem is, when blame truly does reside with us, foisting it off elsewhere doesn't make things better.  Temptation is just such an item.  People try to blame society, argue about nature vs. nurture, even go with, "the devil made me do it", all in a vain attempt to shift the blame for our moral failings elsewhere.  Unfortunately for us, temptation comes from within us.  External factors matter, as does parenting and a whole host of related positive and negative factors that affect a person's ability to resist temptation, but the origin of temptation is always from within.  James makes it clear that the villain that is dragging us away toward sin is our own evil desires.  The reason that Jesus successfully resisted temptation, from the devil himself, was his complete lack of wickedness in his heart.  God is all-sufficient, in himself, and thus beyond temptation, we on the other hand, act all the time out of our real or perceived lack, thus our temptation to do evil.  Correctly diagnosing the cause of temptation is an important step, it gives us hope that we can have victory over our temptation, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for we don't have to change the world to remove external temptations, we need only let God repair our damages hearts to remove them internally.

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"worship God acceptably" - Hebrews 12:28

It is amazing how much one word can change what you take from a verse.  If instead, Hebrews 12:28 read, "worship God with reverence and awe" it would certainly make a point worth noting.  God's mercy and love deserve reverence and his power inspires awe, as such the verse makes total sense.  However, when the word "acceptably" is added to the mix (same in NIV, NKJV, the NASB has "an acceptable service"), an added requirement is spelled out for the people of God.  If there is a way to worship God "acceptably" then there must be an unacceptable way to worship God.

Do you mean that I could direct my love and devotion to the right place (that is God) and still be short of what God wants from me?  That's exactly what the verse is saying.  We don't have to go far in Scripture to find examples of people who failed in their worship of God because they did it in the wrong way.  Cain springs to mind, whose sacrifice was inferior to that of his brother Abel.  King Saul learned the hard way that to offer a sacrifice to God that was unauthorized would cost him the right to rule Israel.  Throughout the prophets God warns his people that their hollow sacrifices would mean nothing without obedience.  As Jesus teaches the people he repeatedly demolishes the Pharisees for having the letter of the Law but being far from the Spirit of the Law; they may have perfected the form of worship, but are nowhere near the heart.

Is an acceptable form of worship the serious approach of many Catholics and Orthodox who treat the Mass with great solemnity?  Or does God prefer the utter exubrance of the Pentecostals who celebrate like no other?  The answer is not to be found in the form of worship (each end of the spectrum has something to offer, and many places in between as well), but the heart of the matter.  If we appreciate the seriousness of what Jesus has done for us and find the joy that being forgiven should bring, we're on the right path.  The question is not so much how you worship, as it is why.  If you feel connected to God through Latin chants, go right ahead.  If shouting out during the praise band's modern anthems brings you closer to God, knock yourself out.  Why do we worship?  To bring glory and praise to God.  In the end, it is your heart that determines if your worship is "acceptable" in the sight of God.

Faith or Science: Choose Both

I saw that statement on a billboard this week.  (It was an advertisement for Calvin College, a Christian Reformed college in Grand Rapids)  The question is, are faith and science at war with each other, indifferent, cooperative, or something else?  There are some who believe that science and faith occupty different spheres so that neither of them has much to say about the other.  Another thought is that faith and science are in a perpetual war with each other, when one gains, the other loses.  The idea that the billboard was striving to promote is that faith and science, when both are functioning properly, are actually partners.  Which is it?

To the Christian, the only real answer is the last one.  If faith and science have nothing to do with each other, both would  be diminished.  Faith wouldn't offer any help in many areas of life, and science would be left hollow and purposeless.  If they are at war with each other, we are doomed to either a faith that is not based in reality or a science that has no knowledge of God.  Neither of these choices is acceptable.

Because God created the world, including us, the study of science is ultimately the study of the handiwork of the Creator.  As such, it is not a threat to faith.  Likewise, faith enables science to answer the "why?" questions that would otherwise elude it.  In the end, both faith and science are enriched when viewed together.  Why then do we have such constant tension between the two?  The answer is simple, there are plenty of people on both sides working to keep it that way.  There are people of faith who shun knowledge, and people of science who belittle belief in anything beyond our senses.  Will it be easy to create harmony between faith and science?  No, but it is necessary.  Christians have nothing to fear from science, our world is God's creation, the laws that govern it are his own.

Sermon Video: "walk in the light" I John 1:5-7

How do we know the Truth?  What is our guide in the darkness to find our way to the light?  John writes that God IS light.  He has no darkness at all in his essence.  If we're going to fellowship with God, we're going to need a remedy for the sinfulness (darkness) of humanity.  That remedy is the blood of Jesus which enables us to begin walking in the light.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

Walking on the light side - I John 1:5

I John 1:5 says, "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."  This verse uses light and darkness imagery to help us understand what exactly it means that God is Holy.  We need help with the concept because nothing in our world is 100% pure.  Everything has flaws, everything has impurities.  Every day we deal with the imperfections of htis world.  They can simply be minor irriations, or the hurdles that make life difficult to bear at times.  Either way, we live in a world of second best options.
Not so with God.  One of the reasons why God is worthy of worship is because he has no flaws.  God has no compromises in his character.  He never acts based upon prejudice, greed, or fear.  Does that make God an emotion-free force, like a law of nature?  A quick look at Scripture reminds us that God gets angry, feels joy, knows sorrow, and laughs.  And yet, God's character remains the same, holy.  It isn't something that is easy for us to grasp.  We often fall into sin because our emotions "get the better of us" or we allow our thinking to become self-centered as we fail to act in accordance with our new life in Christ.
When John tells us to, "walk in the light, as he is in the light" (vs. 7), he is saying that the direction that our lives are going in need to be toward more holiness, righteousness, and Christ-likeness.  It is certainly beyond our ability in this life to be 100% free of darkness, as God is, but thanks be to God that our savior Jesus Christ was.  The only way we will ever accomplish such a monumental task is to stop trying on our own and accept that Jesus' life will stand in for our own in God's judgment.  Only then will we be able to start the process of purging darkness from our lives with the stength of the Holy Spirit.  One day, we too will walk in the light, as we stand in the presence of our holy God.

Sermon Video: A Father's Faith - Genesis 22:1-18

Abraham is put to the test by God who asks him to sacrifice his son Isaac.  What is God up to, Why would he ask something so contrary to his nature of Abraham?  What does the test tell us about Abraham, and what does it reveal about God?

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Sermon Video

If God is Love...

The modern world doesn’t like absolutes. It recoils from calling even the most vile acts evil. It dismisses the idea of hell as an antiquated notion that the Church needs to rid itself of. It looks at the morality of the Bible as a suggestion, something that can be changed when needed. That is why it is so interesting that this same mindset has latched onto the declaration of the Letter of First John that “God is love”. If God is love, they say, he wouldn’t send anyone to hell. He wouldn’t fault anyone for believing in a false religion, or no religion at all. The God who is love will always choose love over any other quality.


Sadly, this particular God doesn’t resemble the God of the Bible. He isn’t the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Nor is he the God who revealed himself to Moses and gave his Covenant people the Law. To reduce God to a one-dimensional principle (even one as fundamental to his nature as Love) is to treat God like a force, and not a person. But the God who chose to reveal himself to us through the Scriptures is clearly a person. God has emotions, God gets angry, God laughs, and yes, God loves.

God cares about holiness. He can’t accept rebellion, he can’t ignore sin. How do we know, besides the fact that the Bible is full of God saying exactly that, consider that God cared enough about sin that he tossed Adam and Eve out of the Garden. He flooded the world in disgust in the day of Noah. He leveled Sodom and Gomorrah, and put the sons of Eli to death for their blasphemy. God made his people wander in the desert for forty years because of their unbelief, and he decreed that the people of Canaan were so evil that they must be wiped out, all of them. God takes holiness serious in his people too. When David sinned, the unborn child died as a consequence. When the whole nation of Israel wandered away from him, he sent them into captivity. When Judah did the same, they followed suit. God cares enough about holiness that he sent his own Son to die on the Cross to save us from ourselves. God is love. No doubt about that, why else would he go to such lengths to try to redeem us?

Is hell real? You’d better believe it. Either hell is real, or God is a liar. Either hell is real or Jesus died in vain. Is there any point in worshiping a God who lies to us? Any reason to worship a God who would put his Son through torture for no real reason?? So, go ahead, tell everyone that God is love, just don’t forget to also tell them that God is Holy. And oh, by the way, we’re not. Either we fix that problem through faith in Jesus Christ, or we’re going to hell. Not because God sends people there, but because we earned it.

Play Ball!

Today is that quintessential American day, the opening day of Baseball.  In the tradition of the fans of generations past, most true-believers think that there team has a chance this year.  Well, maybe not in Cub fans, but just about everybody else.  There's something special about being able to start over fresh each year.  No matter how well, or how poorly, last year went, this year starts from scratch.  In life, most of us could use a fresh start from time to time.  Perhaps our career needs a restart, perhaps our finances, or perhaps it is our relationships that need to be revamped and renewed. 
In keeping with my firm belief that God must love baseball (you did see "Field of Dreams", right?), the Covenant that he made with the people of Israel contained this concept of starting over.  Every fiftieth year was a Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25), a year when all property reverted to its original owner and all slaves were given their freedom.  The purpose of the Law was to give those who had fallen on hard times a second chance.  No family would be down and out forever, and nobody's wealth could grow to great at the expense of his neighbors.  This may not make economic sense in the modern economy, but it certainly makes spiritual sense.  We've all spent time heading down road that lead to nowhere, and we've all done serious damage to relationships that mean a lot to us.  As Easter approaches, consider the opportunities that you have to reconcile to those whom you've hurt, and take the God-honored step of going to those who have hurt you and letting you know that you've forgiven them.  What grudge is worth holding on to year after year, what offense is worth the destruction that it does to our own souls when we cling to it?
Our God is the God of second chances, he gave one to Moses, David, Rahab, Ruth, Elijah, Johanh, Peter and Paul, just to name a few.  Why not imitate our heavenly father and be the people of second chances?  A new season offers new hope, and a new chance.  Go Tigers!

In EVERYTHING Give Thanks??

I Thessalonians 5:18 says, "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." While on vacation in St. Ignace over Labor Day weekend with my wife, my parents, and about 35 other people from the Saranac/Clarksville area it came to my attention that Jay Frank (the son of the pastor of my home church while I was growing up) was giving thanks for the weather before our group meals despite the fact that the weather sucked. We had all driven up to Northern Michigan to enjoy the great outdoors and the outdoors was having the last laugh. It was cold, it was raining, and very few people were all that thrilled about it. And yet, before each meal, Jay would specifically give thanks for the weather along with the food and the fellowship, etc. After this had happened a couple of times, someone said to me, "he really shouldn't give thanks for this weather, God will think we like it"...the whole thing was good natured; funny actually, and when I prayed for the next meal I didn't make mention of the weather (which at the time was getting better, but not out of the woods yet) and followed it up by telling Jay that his previous thanks for the miserable weather hadn't been received with much enthusiasm...While this whole thing was just good natured fun during a time of vacation, it begs the question. Are we REALLY supposed to give thanks to the Lord in ALL things? Doesn't God know that I'm not happy with this or that current situation; how can he expect me to thank him for it? In the end, the reason that we do give thanks to the Lord in All things is because we're not thanking God for the circumstances (good or bad); we're thanking God for being who he is; for giving us life and for caring enough about our lives to send His Son to redeem us from sin. When you look at the big picture like that, you can still thank God for his goodness, his love, his mercy, his grace; despite the times when life is anything but good.

Where do Good things comes from? James 1:16-18

We've had a lot of depressing news in this country in the last couple of years, the state of Michigan has been run through the ringer again and again.  When times are tough, it helps to remind ourselves where the truly GOOD things in life come from.  No, I'm not talking about jobs, health care, homes, or anything that money can purchase.  The truly GOOD things in this world are Faith, Hope, Love, Mercy, Joy, Truth, and Holiness.  I use the capital letters because we often think that we know or understand this ideals but in reality know only the reflection of them as they are enbodied in the essence of God.  Sorry if that's a bit wordy, but the short version is this: If you're looking for anything truly GOOD in life, you're wasting your time and energy looking anywhere else but God.  I have no hope in my own ability to achieve anything resembling perfection on my own.  Nor do I have any confidence in my fellow man to achieve perfection either (no matter what the politicians are promising you).  But, I have complete and full confidence in the Holy God who created this world, who holds us to the standard of his own holiness, and who offers us the chance to join him in holiness through his Son.